PLP’s UK logistics investments vehicle has bought 43 acres of commercial development land from the joint venture between Harworth Group plc and Evans Property Group.

The joint venture, known as Aire Valley Land (AVL), said it has agreed to sell the land at its Gateway 45 Leeds site to the PLP UK Logistics Venture (UKLV) for an undisclosed sum.

PLP UKLV will now work with AVL to begin earthworks and on and off-site infrastructure, alongside the submission of a ”reserved matters” planning application to Leeds City Council for 850,000sqft of industrial and distribution space across 4 units.

Subject to planning, work will begin on constructing these new units in Summer 2020.

Established in 2015, the PLP platform is owned by Macquarie Capital, Peel Group, Ivanhoe Cambridge and its senior management team.

This acquisition complements other recent purchases by PLP at Sheffield, Crewe and Knowsley which will take the value of UKLV’s managed assets to £500m (€579.4m) on a completed basis.

Jeremy Greenland, CEO of PLP said: “We are very excited about this acquisition, which provides a clear opportunity for PLP to deliver high-quality logistics space in a variety of configurations for occupiers.

“Beyond this and our other three recent acquisitions, we continue to look for prime logistics developments and assets in key markets.”

James Pitt, development director at Evans Property Group, said: “This is an excellent outcome for all concerned which will deliver a significant proportion of the jobs promised when the Enterprise Zone was initially created.

“AVL’s focus now is to assist PLP to get on-site as quickly as possible so that thousands of new jobs can be delivered for the City Region to benefit from.”

Ian Ball, COO at Harworth Group, said This deal caps a superb first four months of 2019 for the Aire Valley Land joint venture with the agreed sale of 60 acres of employment land in three separate transactions.

“PLP has an experienced team with a proven track record and I have no doubt that they will make a success of their development.”

Leader of Leeds City Council councillor Judith Blake said: “This deal is very welcome as it brings significant new investment into Leeds and the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone, enhancing economic growth, job creation and innovation in the area and the city.”